2015 Archive Stories Real Estate

Deal-making and job switching could come into vogue in 2015, if February is an indication.
There were plenty of announcements to go around.
MALL MOVEMENT
Westfield Corp. of Australia has entered into a $925 million joint venture with O’Connor Capital Partners, agreeing to sell a stake in Westfield Palm Deser

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index, a leading measure for the nation, says home prices increased 4.6 percent year-over-year in December. That’s more than twice the rate of inflation for 2014. The average rate of inflation was 1.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Existing home pr

Steve PonTell, chief executive of National Community Renaissance, predicted that Inland Southern California will be in crisis mode if it fails to come to grips with affordable housing for working-class people.
The view was shared by PonTell as he led a discussion with San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherfordand planning consult

Realtors are paying close attention to the status of a home in Corona that is owned by Carolyn Marie Jones, the CEO of high-end blue-jean design company who is embroiled in a $15 million bank and bankruptcy fraud case.
The home, located at 1723 Sandtrap, was set to be sold by Auction.com March 4 with an opening bid of $510,000. Built in

The California Association of Realtors has changed the way termite and other wood-destroying pest-inspection provisions appear on a 10-page agreement to buy a home.
And that’s got the pest control professionals bugged.
“Our concern is that it may diminish the number of termite inspections that are done here in Califor

The CoreLogic DataQuick report for January shows the year got off to a rocky start when it comes to home sales in the Southern California.
Sales slid sharply in the six-county Southern California region from December, and slipped 6.3 percent from January 2014. But the median price that buyers agreed to pay for a home or condo in January

Bank repossessions hit a two-year high in California and the Inland region in January, a spike attributed by Irvine-based RealtyTrac to delayed action while banks acclimated to provisions in the California Homeowner Bill of Rights of 2013.
The law offers protection against foreclosure for homeowners when a bank is working on a loan modif

A recent grand opening event for Cielo by Pardee Homes may be an indication that folks like living in the suburbs and they’re latching onto news of loosened credit standards.
Officials with Pardee say hundreds of home shoppers drove to the gated, master-planned Sundance in Beaumont to check out the two-story Cielo homes which price

Regulatory burdens. A housing shortage. And rapid escalation of home prices.
What bubbled up in 2014 is being taken by real estate experts as a sign the Inland region’s ability to provide middle class housing to its people getting worse, according to a study Joel Kotkin will soon release.
Kotkin, an author on global trends

After Jeremy and Janet Ybarra pulled into the New Model Colony master-planned community in Ontario to tour model homes last week, the couple said they felt like they found a place to call home.
With their first child on the way, the Ybarras said sense of community is important. They were shopping before Super Bowl Sunday, which is this w

The parent company of Provident Savings Bank, in a Tuesday conference call with investors, said it is getting in position for conditions in refinancing and mortgage lending to strengthen in 2015.
“We continue to see improving financial results,” Craig Blunden, chairman and chief executive officer of Provident Financial Holdin

The state agency that regulates the banking industry on Friday announced a settlement that underscores its right to flex its muscle when it suspects mortgage lending laws have been toyed with.
The $2.5 million settlement with Ocwen Loan Servicing involved allegations the firm failed to provide loan information to the California Departmen

A Riverside City Council committee has paved the way for a property company to rehabilitate and resell two historic Victorian houses.
The Development Committee chose a proposal from Renewal Properties to buy the McIntyre and Sweatt houses for $100,192 – rather than $1 each as previously offered by the city.
If the entire co

Expect a big crowd when the Planning Commisson reconvenes to consider the Mitchell Crossing project, a mix of condos and apartments slated for land at the northwest corner of the Clinton Keith Road/I-215 interchange.
On Tuesday, more than two dozen residents from the 693-home Greer Ranch gated community appeared before the Murri

Contractors this week hoisted a big ‘O’ and plenty of other letters on the side of a colorful, new restaurant to spell a national first for Taco Bell.
The restaurant, which has been built on the site of what once was an A&W restaurant, the new Morongo Travel Center eatery along Interstate 10, is believed to the first Taco

Six Inland apartment complexes have been sold in a megamillion-dollar deal that has been characterized as one of the largest multifamily transactions in Southern California in nearly two decades.
The $481.2 million portfolio, which Los Angeles-based TruAmerica Multifamily acquired from JH Real Estate Partners Inc., is made up of Class B

Decades ago, I discovered why it’s a good idea to get a home tested for radon before you buy.
Months after the furniture was moved into a cute little house in an industrial city of the Midwest, a contractor hired to install a sump pump punched a hole through the basement floor, only to see thick, black sludge ooze below the surface

Real estate agents and mortgage professionals are warning of potential roadblocks with a program that finances solar and energy-efficient improvements to Inland homes.
The hurdles could involve lost sales and problems at escrow for homebuyers, lenders, real estate agents and sellers.
The Home Energy Retrofit Opportunity, or HERO,

Inland Southern California foreclosure activity in December fell to Lilliputian levels, compared with the volume of filings the region endured after the housing bubble burst. The Inland metropolitan region had 2,285 total filings last month, taking the total filings in 2014 to 20,582, a new report from Irvine-based RealtyTrac said.

Inland Southern California, once the epicenter of the housing crisis, is now back at pre-recession levels. That’s a great reason to let loose with a homeowners’ “huzzah!”
“It’s good news,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, which this week released its numbers on foreclosures for

Home sales rose across Inland Southern California in December, capping the year with a 5.1 percent gain and giving real estate professionals and homeowners on the move a sigh of relief.
Factors include low lending rates, job growth and news the Federal Housing Administration would put a new policy in place to lower Mortgage Interest Prem

A preliminary proposal to subdivide a 15-acre property in Wildomar so more housing could be built there is scheduled for the City Council’s review Wednesday, Jan. 14.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Wildomar City Hall, 23873 Clinton Keith Road, in Oak Creek Center.
Markham Development Management Group is asking city offi

Developers proposing to add 1,621 homes in Corona so far have received a cool reception from city officials.
They envision Arantine Hills, a South Corona community of houses without businesses or retails outlets. It would be the biggest planned community built in Corona in at least 15 years, with 60 more homes than its neighbor, Eagle Gl